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Premier David Crisafulli has pitched Queensland’s critical minerals directly to US Vice President JD Vance on his trade mission to Washington DC, declaring it is Queensland’s time to get projects funded.
Several other states have received funding injections after US President Donald Trump and the Albanese government signed a multibillion-dollar deal designed to break China’s dominance of the sector.
The premier and leaders from five companies this week met with finance agencies and government departments to pitch for funding or commodity purchase agreements.
Crisafulli secured a one-on-one meeting with Vance, during which he pitched Queensland’s minerals industry.
“The United States is hungry for critical minerals, and Queensland is open for business. We’ve got momentum and we’ve got projects ready to go. This is our time,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
“Queensland is uniquely positioned to deliver, and deliver quickly, with a safe and secure supply chain that our allies can rely on.
“Every piece of the puzzle is building to this being Queensland’s time. It doesn’t matter whether it’s developing new industries, encouraging people to relocate offices from other parts of the country to our state, or hosting big events, more people are hearing about Queensland for the first time. We should be proud of that and use it to drive jobs and opportunities for the years ahead.”
The Queensland government signed a five-year memorandum of cooperation with California’s government this week.
Crisafulli said the partnership would create opportunities for Queensland’s agriculture sector to share knowledge, technology and expertise with California.
“This is about bringing the best ideas and applying them to a Queensland context, and putting our producers in the box seat to lead the next phases of innovation,” he said.
“This agreement creates a pathway for greater cooperation in areas including AgTech, biotechnology, research and productivity, as well as for workers and researchers themselves.
“We know innovation is critical to the future of Queensland agriculture, particularly as our producers respond to changing conditions, workforce challenges, and the need to keep improving productivity.
“We have an ambitious goal of growing our primary industries to $30 billion by 2030, and this agreement will help us get there.”
Under the Trump-Albanese agreement, the US and Australia will each contribute at least US$1 billion ($1.5 billion) over the next six months to help fund a proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline of investment in Australia and the US.
In state parliament last week, Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie said the trade trip was about “being at the forefront” of the conversation with the Trump administration.
“We want the critical minerals to come out of Queensland, not Western Australia, not the Northern Territory,” he said. “We want them to come out of Queensland. We want to generate Queensland jobs.”
Last month, the ambassador of Finland was eager to offer the Nordic nation’s services to help kick-start Queensland’s minerals production industry. Arto Haapea told this masthead his country – highly regarded for developing mining and production technology – could help facilitate local refining and manufacturing.
Experts have long warned of the lack of economic benefits to a “dig and ship” approach, with the real value coming from onshore processing and refining. The Crisafulli government’s 2026-30 critical minerals strategy flags investment in processing through local refining and manufacturing.
No US funding injections have yet been announced for Queensland, however other states have benefited from the partnership.
The Pentagon will invest $US400 million ($560 million) in a “world-first” mining project in central-western NSW that produces scandium, a rare critical mineral used in fighter jets, spacecraft and other tools of war. Funding of $200 million in concessional finance for the Alcoa-Sojitz Gallium Recovery Project in Wagerup, Western Australia, and $100 million for the Arafura Nolans project in the Northern Territory was announced in October.
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